Over the last couple of weeks Guido has blocked a whole load of comment makers who were using multiple identities and it has made comment threads shorter and more readable. Despite what some think, only a third of readers look at the comments. If you were not one of the 62,431 visitors viewing 310,616 pages over the last seven days, here are the seven most popular stories (in order of popularity) that you missed:

The Boot & Flogger in Southwark is the perfect place for a free-marketeer to conspire, since it was until recently the only hostelry in the land that had the right to sell wine without having a licence, thanks to a charter granted by Queen Elizabeth I in 1567.

The FT’s offices are nearby and it was David Davis’ misfortune that an FT hack was there on Thursday to overhear him referring to the “Brokeback Coalition”.

Hardly startling revelations that right-wingers are not overjoyed that Downing Street seems to care more about fifty odd LibDem MPs than two hundred Tory MPs. Just read ConservativeHome and you will see the same sentiments there almost daily…

“This leadership election is dire. The candidates are exhausted. The contest is mired in tedium. There is lots of sound, but precious little fury. We are a beaten party going through the motions, and it shows.”